21 kids among dead found in school after Mexico earthquake

The shallow, 7.1 magnitude quake killed at least 223 people in total and caused major damage across states in the centre of the country. Desperate searches for survivors under the rubble are continuing. Dozens of buildings collapsed across the country, including several churches where worshippers were killed.

Rescuers work in the rubble after a magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck on September 19, 2017 in Mexico City, Mexico. The earthquake caused multiple fatalities, destroyed buildings and knocked out power throughout the capital. In the destruction, rescuers found the bodies of 21 schoolchildren and four adults. Now, the community is waiting for word on the dozens more still missing. A volunteer at the school told Mexican news outlet Imagen Noticias that the whole area has been transformed, with every person and every detail focused on saving what — and who — they can.

The school’s collapse showed the devastating nature of the 7.4 magnitude earthquake, which struck on the anniversary of the 1985 earthquake which killed 10,000 people. So far at least 220 people have been confirmed dead, according to Mexico’s interior ministry, but this could continue to rise. In a late night address, Mr Nieto said there are several reports of people trapped either beneath the rubble of collapsed buildings or inside burning ones.

Even in one of the most earthquake-prone cities in the world, Peniley Ramirez never felt in danger inside her apartment. The seven-story building in the Roma neighborhood had survived the devastating Mexico City quake of 1985, which killed thousands. “People said it was perfect during ’85, there… A building that survived the last earthquake will not necessarily survive the next one.

In the photo below, Volunteers and rescue workers search for children trapped inside the Enrique Rebsamen school.

In the history of Mexican earthquakes, Tuesday’s was coincidentally the 32nd anniversary of the 1985 Michoacan earthquake, which resulted in thousands of deaths. The 1985 earthquake was the more typical great earthquake that breaks the boundary between the plates, and caused great devastation in Mexico City despite being more than 100 miles distant.